Laval Shizuka
Laval Shizuka “'Eternal Flame Shizuka'” is a pirate and captain of the Eternal Flame Pirates. He is the youngest son of the Yonko Laval Akuno, and the younger brother of Laval Zandro. He made it his life goal to one day, surpass and defeat his father, for giving him an abusive childhood and to prove he isn't pathetic. Once he defeats his father, he wishes to live the rest of life so great, that he will remember it even after death. He has eaten the Mera Mera no Mi, that allows the user to create, control, and transform into fire at will. As the founder and captain of the Eternal Flame Pirates he is the first member of the crew, as well as one of its top three fighters. Through his life of piracy and battles, (which normally end with an uncontrollable fire of wherever the battle took place) Shizuka has given him a current bounty of 500,000,000. Battling at the Battle of Marineford, forming an alliance with the Golden Flame Pirates, and battling in Dressrosa with said alliance are just some of the acts he has done to get his fame. Having a bounty of 300,000,000 prior to his arrival at the Sabaody Archipelago, Shizuka is one of the eleven rookie pirates who have been referred to as the “Eleven Supernovas”, pirates with bounties over 100,000,000 who have reached the Red Line. He is also one of twelves pirates referred to as “The Worst Generation” (formerly known as “The Eleven Supernovas”). Appearance Both before, and after the timeskip, Shizuka's appearance barely changes at all, as both before and after, he wears an open, dark blue cardigan, as well as black jeans. Shizuka has black eyes and black, spiky hair. Although not as muscular before the timeskip, Shizuka's body has gain a noticeable muscle development after the timeskip. As a result of his father's harsh training and abusive nature, Shizuka has a number of scars under his clothing. All caused by Akuno's abusive nature, Shizuka two scars in the shape of parallel lines on each side of chest, in addition to his future x-shaped scar, a scar on the lower bottom of his leg that go from his lower, front leg to the top of his foot, and two horizontal scars in parallel lines on his back, with another vertical scar on the right of the parallel scars. His most noticeable scar is a verticle one on his left cheek. Before the Timeskip Shizuka wore an open long-sleeved dark blue cardigan with four buttons and underneath, a gray, sleeveless shirt and, black jeans. After the Timeskip After the timeskip, Shizuka maintains his open long-sleeved dark blue cardigan with four buttons and his black jeans. After his fight with Admiral Lisa, his gray sleeveless shirt had a hole cut through it and, he also received an x-shaped scar that covers most of his chest. He has slightly grown, and is significantly more muscular after his training, during the two years. This can be seen is his better-defined limbs and chest. Personality Shizuka has a very dense and careless personality. He has been noted by his crew to be dumb or sometimes, even retarded. He becomes especially dumb and forgetful when his is alone with Juna Ayumi. He often will take an expression literally, and then be confused on how it doesn’t make sense, although, he does seem to understand the concept of common sense. Although he is careless most of the time, he can show seriousness when his crew is in danger, or if he is fighting someone of similar or superior strength. Relationships Crew Being the captain of a crew consisting of members he recruited personally, Shizuka cares tremendously for his crew. Despite being the captain, Shizuka sees his other crew members as equals, and will sometimes even take orders from them, especially his older brother Laval Zandro. Laval Zandro Laval Zandro is the older brother of Shizuka, and is also the first mate, and the first crew mate of the Eternal Flame Pirates. Zandro is shown to care for his little brother, as he came along with him when he was setting off because he was worried about his dumb little brother setting off to sea alone, although he also went because he had nothing to do and wanted an adventure. As they had already spent a majority of their lives together before setting off, they have developed a very close bond which is shown by their tremendous amount of trust and respect for each other. Though they sometimes get in arguments which usually start with Shizuka doing something dumb or vice-versa. Ayumi As Shizuka picked Juna Ayumi to join his crew himself, Shizuka cares a lot for Ayumi. Although, Shizuka occasionally will act more uninterested, shy, and dumb around Ayumi, he still is willing to risk his life even more than most of his crew for Ayumi. When they first met, Shizuka showed to be extremely annoyed when the Marines of Fuhai Villafe, her hometown started harassing her. Golden Flame Grand Fleet The Golden Flame Grand Fleet was an alliance formed of the Eternal Flame Pirates and Katsuki’s Golden Sword Pirates. Katsuki Shizuka have become close friends with Katsuki and his crew since meeting in the Sabaody Archipelago. Katsuki is said to also another who has been said to be able to keep up with Shizuka’s stupidity. They have fought together quite often and they call on each other via Den Den Mushi when aid is needed. They have shown to have formed a rivalry between each other on whose powers are stronger. Family Laval Akuno Shizuka is the son of the Yonko, Laval Akuno. Himuro had trained Shizuka when he was a toddler, which is where he has learned hand-to-hand combat and basic fighting fundamentals, although Shizuka has stated the training was overly harsh. When Akuno went to be a Yonko, picking a life of piracy over family, Shizuka didn’t have any negative feelings as he knew he would’ve done the same, not having a family at the time, and it gave him the goal surpassing his father who is a Yonko. As all Akuno cared about was making his son strong, Shizuka has developed extremely negative feelings toward him, and Shizuka not quite being what Akuno expected, they both show extreme hatred towards each other, and in order to become a pirate feared and respected everyone, Shizuka can’t wait to beat a Yonko to increase his fame. Enemies Although he has made some friends, he has made as much, if not more enemies. Some of his fellow rookies have become enemies of Shizuka. World Government Being a pirate, Shizuka is naturally wanted by the World Government. Shizuka also sees the World Government as a corrupt system, which he can’t stand. Marines Being the careless person Shizuka is, he doesn’t understand why anyone would have such a strong sense of justice. As the Marines have done some things that are unreasonable in his opinion to his fellow pirates, Shizuka shows to enjoy taking out Marines. Abilities and Powers As captain of the Eternal Flame Pirates, Shizuka is one of the strongest members of the Eternal Flame Pirates, the only one being stronger than him being Laval Zandro. And whenever he spars against one of the top three members of The Worst Generation, Katsuki, they duels are always ended with a stalemate. He has also been offered the position as one of the Shichibukai om multiple occasions, although Shizuka has declinded each one. Shizuka also has a fearsome and well-known reputation. Much of this is to due him being related to a Yonko, and his trademark pyrokinetic powers of the Mera Mera no Mi. His reputation and strength has given him an overall bounty of 500,000,000. Physical Abilities As captain of the Eternal Flame Pirates, Laval Shizuka has immense physical strength, and is capable of lifting up large boulders, breaking stones, shattering steel with his bare hands, pushing apart large buildings, and knocking out people who are more than twice his size. His endurance and durability is incredible; taking continuous, deadly assaults from powerful opponents who would’ve easily killed a normal person, and is able to stand up and continue fighting afterwards. Miscellaneous Skills and Weaknesses Shizuka doesn’t tend to run away from things, and when their is something he can’t handle, he needs to be snapped out of it by someone. He also tends to get distracted very easily even during an event such as a battle, or when he needs to do something important. Shizuka has an expertise in playing the guitar. If he’s not training, he’s usually seen playing on the ship, in his captain’s room. The crew tends to be surprised someone as dumb as Shizuka is able to do something that’s considered productive rather well. An advantage of Shizuka, is that opponents tend to underestimate. It is in some cases, because of his bounty compared to theirs, the opponent’s overconfidence, or Shizuka’s age, but it is mostly when they see his dumb nature. Then, ironically, the opponent is confused at how someone so “dumb” has the power he has. Despite being a Logia-type devil fruit user, Shizuka’s reflexes usually aren’t fast enough to turn into his element in time, which leads to him being hit despite his power. After the timeskip, Shizuka would eliminate this weakness after training in Kenbunshoku Haki, allowing him to see incoming attacks before they come, allowing him to turn into his fire element. Eating the Mera Mera no Mi, Shizuka’s powers come to a stalemate when in combat with the user of the Hie Hie no Mi, or the Moku Moku no Mi. Shizuka’s power is also completely inferior to the user of the Magu Magu no Mi. If hit by an attack from the Magu Magu no Mi, Shizuka will still be able be burned by the magma. Devil Fruit Further information: Mera Mera no Mi Shizuka ate the Mera Mera no Mi, a Logia-type fruit that allows him to become the element of fire and control the flames from his body, which is where his reputation as “Fire Fist Shizuka” comes from. His main way of fighting is to launch columns of fire by punching with his signature attack ”Fire Fist.” He is also immune to normal physical strikes, all of which will simply phase through his fire-composed body. When Shizuka shoots his flames into water, they are shown to completely bypass water and evaporate the water around his attack. When Shizuka goes into water, he uses Enkai to surround himself in flames, and the flames are hot enough to constantly evaporate the water around him, which completely cancels out his weakness to water. Haki Shortly before the timeskip, Shizuka had awakened the ability known as “Haki” and is able to use all three types. It was first found out Shizuka possessed Haki when the Fleet Admiral stated it when he used Haoshoku Haki in Marineford. He first used it at the Sabaody Archipelago when his crew was surrounded by Marines, afterwards leaving him confused. After that, he’d start using it at random times irregularly having no control of it. He’d start training to use it with Yonko Laval Akuno after the Battle of Marineford and learned to control it. It was stated that 2 years was too short a time to learn the basics of Haki, although Shizuka was taught by a great Haki user, and had an affinity for it, which would lead to him learning it in 18 months. After reuniting with the crew, Shizuka has shown to use Haki consciously, actively, and easily in combat. Haoshoku Haki Shizuka is able to use Haoshoku Haki, something only one in a million people possess. Shizuka had used this ability several times, as it was this type of Haki he manifested the earliest. Shizuka has shown to be proficient in this Haki to the point of taking out entire Marine fleets. His skill with this Haki is also shown to be able to make those with a strong will sweat and show signs of fear. Kenbunshoku Haki After the timeskip, Shizuka appears to have gained significant proficiency in Kenbunshoku Haki, as he is shown knowing what an opponent is about to do, sometimes even before the opponent knows themselves. With Kenbunshoku Haki, Shizuka is able to transform into his fire element when he sees an incoming attack. He has also been able to counter Katsuki’s Soru, and lasers fired from a pacifista, commenting the lasers were “slow.” Even though he is able to turn into his element, Shizuka trained in dodging before the timeskip, as he didn’t have the reflexes at the time. With his Kenbunshoku Haki, he can now dodge attacks such as the Fishman Karate technique, Yabusame with little to no effort. Shizuka was also able to sense his crew’s presences when they were to meet up on the Sabaody Archipelago. He is also shown to tell when an individual has superior strength to him. Busoshoku Haki Shizuka has also shown a great use of Busoshoku Haki, with him being able to turn a body part black, hardening it. With his Haki, he was able to knock down a pacifista with one punch. Shizuka is able to use Busoshoku Haki in conjunction with Gear Second and Gear Third. With Busoshoku Haki, Shizuka has been shown to cause tremendous damage against an opponent that is more than three times his size. A demonstration of his Busoshoku Haki is when he was able to block a slash from Katsuki’s Kikoku by coating his arm with his Haki. Techniques * Busoshoku: Koka: Shizuka uses Busoshoku Haki to harden his body (or parts of it). In the FUNimation subs, it is called Armament; Hardening. * Atama Buso: Shizuka imbues his forehead with Busoshoku Haki to harden it. In the FUNimation subs, it is called Head; Hardening. History Past Childhood Shizuka was born as the son of one of the most wanted pirates at the time, the Yonko Akuno. Akuno believed that power is the key to having a good life, and that dominance is everything. Because of this Akuno would leave his crew at base under command of his first and second mate, and start training Shizuka, along with his older brother Zandro, who he was training before and still was, when he turned 7. Shizuka would be given intense training, toughening him up and making much more physically strong than a normal boy his age. Akuno would cross the line one day, when he would be given a devil fruit by his visiting first mate. Although Akuno didn't know this, this devil fruit was a powerful Logia devil fruit, the Mera Mera no Mi. All Akuno knew about the legendary devil fruits, was that their eaters were to lose their ability to swim. When training started the next day, Laval Zandro would be given a day off by Akuno. Little to did he know, Akuno was going to do something that would quite possibly end up in Shizuka's death. Akuno force-fed the devil fruit to Shizuka, who was fourteen by then, and then threw him in the ocean. Akuno's theory was that if he couldn't swim, then it would be because he is weak, and if he were to die, he wasn't strong enough to be his son in the first place. With Shizuka's life flashing before his eyes, he was saved just in time by his older brother, Zandro, who wouldv'e realized that Akuno would never just give a day off, unless he was planning something. After that, Zandro and Shizuka would go to discuss what they should do with the "insane geezer" that was their father. They came to the conclusion that they could train themselves, as Zandro could get stronger on his own, and that being stronger than Shizuka, he could still train his younger brother. They had also vowed to become pirates once Shizuka turned seventeen, and they would go on to be feared and well-known pirates and a powerful crew. For the next three years, Zandro would teach Shizuka all he knew about martial arts from their father's intense training, and they would also learn and figure out how Shizuka could use his new power for combat. Although Shizuka would struggle even with such a straight-foward power as the Mera Mera no Mi, which Zandro would call him "dummmm..." for, Shizuka would learn to control his powers and use them to his advantage. Three years later, Shizuka would've turned seventeen-years-old, and they would prepare to set off and be pirates. Before they left, Shizuka would go to his father, to see if he had changed at all. All Akuno said was that Shizuka was weak and wasn't worthy to bear the name "Laval." They got in an argument where Akuno said that power would give what he wanted, and that from Shizuka's point of view, you need friends, and you need to live a life so great, that you'll remember it even after death, and that defeating him would be a step to living that life, and he left, and Akuno made the same vow to defeat his youngest son as well. Shizuka told Zandro that he wanted to defeat their father, and his older brother understood, and said to at least let him fight their father's second strongest of his crew. After that, they'd set off on their small boat, to be encountered by Foosha Village's local sea monster. Shizuka told Zandro, he wanted to test out his power. Shizuka clenched his fist that would turn into fire, which would then shoot out as a large column of fire, which would be Shizuka's first use of his signature attack Fire Fist, which would be a technique he'd use for years to come. Trivia * Shizuka's dream, which is to have a life that he'll even remember after death, is based on the song The Nights by Avicii. * Shizuka's personality is based off of his character's creator's personality.